Bengaluru: While investigating the case of a missing person — a 16-year-old girl from Munnekolalu, Marathahalli — city police stumbled on a prostitution racket that was centred in New Delhi and involved a peon at a sub-registrar’s office in Bengaluru. While the kingpin and an associate eluded a team of Marathahalli police in Delhi, cops nabbed four persons including the peon. A charge sheet was filed in March and a hunt is on for the others.

Police found that the teenaged girl was allegedly lured by the peon, identified by sleuths as K Shivashankar alias Raju, 30, a resident of Bangarpet, Kolar district, on the pretext of landing her a job in Delhi. Shivashankar sold the girl to Kajal, the woman who runs the brothel in Delhi and the main accused in the case, for Rs 70,000 and Kajal forced the 16-year-old into prostitution.

The search for the girl began in June 2017, and at first Marathahalli police had little to go on beyond the usual suspects — family and friends. They got their big break when the girl phoned her mother in September. Police traced the call to Delhi and a team was sent to the national capital to follow up. After months of work, police raided the brothel in Delhi in December and rescued the teen and another from Mulabagilu, Kolar district.

The charge sheet claims Shivashankar was introduced into the racket by Venkatesh. The two first met in 2013 when Venkatesh visited the sub-registrar’s office where Shivashankar worked to register property. Venkatesh promised Shivashankar a commission of between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for every girl he supplied.

Shivashankar allegedly sold a “few” girls to Venkatesh and when Venkatesh died in December 2014, Shivashankar established contact with Kajal and began directly selling girls to her. Shivashankar had allegedly sold the Mulabagilu girl too.

In the case of the 16-year-old, police found that Shivashankar and Turub Pasha, an associate, took her to the Kempegowda International Airport where she was handed over to Kajal. Shivashankar was paid Rs 70,000 and Kajal and the girl then flew to Delhi.

Based on information from the victim, police arrested Chotu Ram Dev, 40, and Rajesh Kumar, 34, both residents of New Delhi. Pasha, 38, a resident of KG Halli, was also arrested along with Shivashankar. Police say Kajal and Sarika, her associate, managed to flee during the raid on the brothel.